Brian Doerksen

Brian Robert Doerksen was a Canadian Christian singer-songwriter, worship leader, and pastor whose songs shaped the devotional lives of millions of believers around the world. Born on November 17, 1965, in Abbotsford, British Columbia, he grew up on a rose farm in a close-knit Mennonite Brethren community — a heritage that ran deep, with family roots tracing to religious refugees from Germany and Holland. That faith-saturated upbringing planted seeds that would flower into one of the most fruitful songwriting ministries in contemporary Christian music. After graduating from the Mennonite Educational Institute in 1983, Brian married his high school sweetheart, Joyce, on November 24, 1984, at just 19 years old. The young couple immediately stepped into ministry, serving with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Southeast Asia — an adventure that would set the trajectory for their life together. By the late 1980s, Brian had joined the staff of Langley Vineyard Christian Fellowship as worship pastor, and his gifts as a composer began to emerge through songs like "Refiner's Fire" (1990) and "Light the Fire Again" (1994). In 1997, a season of profound loss — a failed music project, financial strain, and the diagnosis of his son Benjamin with Fragile X syndrome — led Brian and Joyce to relocate to London, United Kingdom, to serve under John and Eleanor Mumford at Vineyard UK. It was during a prayer walk in that city, in 1998, that he composed "Come, Now Is the Time to Worship," the song that would become his most enduring legacy and one of the most widely sung contemporary worship anthems in church history. In 2003, it earned him the Gospel Music Association Dove Award for International Song of the Year, making him only the second Canadian to receive that honor. Over more than three decades, Brian composed a canon of beloved worship songs — "Faithful One," "Hope of the Nations," "Today (As For Me and My House)" — and released multiple award-winning albums, including Holy God, which won the Juno Award in 2008. He co-founded The Bridge Church in Abbotsford in 2006, mentored a generation of worship leaders at Prairie Bible Institute's School of Worship Arts, authored the book Make Love, Make War (2009), and co-created the musical Prodigal God. Brian and Joyce raised six children — daughters Mercy, Joy, Rachel, and Esther, and sons Benjamin and Isaiah, both of whom have Fragile X syndrome. That journey of caring for his boys deepened his theology of grace and suffering in ways that resonated in every song he wrote. Known above all for his humility and genuine interest in people, Brian Doerksen passed away peacefully in his sleep at 6:45 a.m. on July 21, 2026, at his family home in Abbotsford, surrounded by those he loved most. He was 60 years old. His songs — Scriptures set to melodies — continue to lead worshippers to God.